Special to Me
by PrincessBellePrinceAdam
Summary: [Operation Overdrive] Rose tells Mack a secret about her past, leading him to assure her that she is indeed special. Rock.


**Special to Me**

"And that is why Rose is always working," Tyzonn finished. "She desires to know everything so that she might feel as if she is special."

"That's so sad," Ronny sighed. "We should all try to make Rose feel good about herself." She looked around at the others. Will and Dax nodded their agreement. "What do you think, Mack?"

But the red ranger was already striding out of the room. "Mack?" Ronny called at his retreating figure. "Where are you going? Isn't being a good friend to Rose more important right now?"

"He's going to talk to his woman," Will said. "He's crushing on her big time."

"Crushing?" Tyzonn questioned, looking confused.

Mack was climbing the many flights of stairs up to Rose's room. He knocked on the pink painted door lightly. "Hey Rose, can I come in?" Mack didn't bother waiting for an answer.

He saw that Rose was sitting out on her balcony. Mack joined her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly, obviously not expecting this. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Mack sat down in the other chair on the terrace. "Tyzonn just told the rest of us a very interesting story, Rose."

Rose looked up at him with big brown eyes. "And what would that very interesting story be, Mack?" she asked quietly, even though the pink ranger had a very good idea of what Mack wanted to talk about.

"He seems to think that you don't think you're special. Care to explain that, Rosie?"

She didn't say anything, but rather looked out onto the blurry outline of San Angeles. "Rosie, I know that can't be true. Because the Rosie that I know is the most special person I've ever met, so she couldn't' possibly think she isn't extraordinary."

"It was a very long time ago that I thought I wasn't worth much, Mack. Very long. It doesn't matter anymore." But he could tell that it did indeed matter to his Rose, to his pink angel.

"Don't lie to me, Rose. Obviously it does matter. Just talk to me, please." He moved his hand from her shoulder, finding her own delicate hand and squeezing it slightly, trying to bring some comfort to her.

Rose let out a sigh. "Let's just say that I have issues with my parents."

"Everyone has issues with their parents, Rose. That's why we have parents: so we have someone to argue with." Mack smiled his silly smile at her.

"Easy for you to say. Your parents love you. I know your mom isn't around Mack, but at least your father is." Rose sniffed, trying and failing not to cry. Mack got off of his chair and moved to kneel in front of her.

"Hey," he whispered, "It's all right, Rose. It's all right; I'm here." She was visibly shaking. Mack did the only thing he could think of: he pulled her onto the ground with him, holding her close to his body. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry, Rose."

"They didn't want me. They didn't want me," Rose murmured. The bright starlight illuminated the twin trails of tears on her pretty face. "I ruined everything."

"No baby, you made everything better. You always make everything better." Mack rubbed circles on her back, hoping to soothe her. "You didn't ruin _anything_."

"I ruined their futures. They were our age, just graduated from high school, both off to Yale in the fall. And then…then my mother found out about me and that bright future was gone. Their parents made them get married because of me." She looked up at Mack, tears still in her eyes. "I mean, I never wanted for anything, but they were so uninterested in me. I was a living breathing reminder of their screw up."

"Babies don't ruin lives. Babies make lives brighter. Your parents don't know what they were missing out on: their beautiful intelligent daughter." He smiled again. "And if it makes you feel any better, I want you."

Rose sniffled again. "What?"

"_I_ want you," Mack repeated, feeling his face flush. "You're my best friend and I…I want you to be around. I don't want you to ever leave."

"Thank you, Mack," Rose replied. She burrowed into his arms, resting her head against his chest. He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head.

"And believe me Rose, you are special."


End file.
